


Get Up Johnny Boy

by alltheglowingeyes



Series: PJO/HoO/ToA One Shots [42]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Apollo Cabin - Freeform, Gen, Grief, Sibling Bonding, oop idk what else, this is just me procrastinating while projecting on austin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltheglowingeyes/pseuds/alltheglowingeyes
Summary: Kayla and Will won't stop fighting, and Austin reached his limit.
Relationships: Kayla Knowles & Austin Lake & Will Solace
Series: PJO/HoO/ToA One Shots [42]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861492
Comments: 17
Kudos: 37





	Get Up Johnny Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Uh IDK what to really say here. This fic is actually me projecting on a character who isn’t Will for once, so that’s neat.
> 
> But yeah, takes place after the events of TLO. Title is based on Johnny Boy by TØP because I felt it fit the energy IG? IDK again lol.
> 
> Enjoy! :)
> 
> \- alltheglowingeyes

“Will, this is ridiculous.”

“I’m fine, Kayla. I’ve got things to do in the infirmary though, and you aren’t stopping me,” Will grumbled in response, slipping on his shoes quickly.

Kayla glared at Will, frustration evident in her expression, “Well, I’ve tried telling you nicely, but it seems my message doesn’t get through that thick mass of hair you have blocking your brain. So let me try again: _take a fucking break_ ,” she growled.

“No,” was all Will gave her in response, already turning around to head out the door of the cabin and back to the infirmary. Kayla scowled, grabbing Will’s arm.

The head counselor turned around slowly, eyes glittering dangerously, “Let go of me, Kayla. I am _not_ in the mood for this.”

Kayla matched his intense gaze, refusing to back down. “And let you try and work yourself to the grave or something? Will you stop when you burn your hands again? Or are you going to go all the way this time?”

Will scowled, “Let me _go_ , Kayla.”

“Make me.”

“I just might-”

“You’re probably too weak to even fight me, although even at full strength you’re no match-”

“I slammed a whole energy drink a few minutes ago. Don’t test me-”

Their bickering-turned-shouting-match was interrupted as something happened that neither of the siblings expected:

Austin snapped.

“Can you guys stop fighting for _five minutes_ ? My gods, why can’t you understand that you guys are on the same side? All you two have done is yell at each other or give each other the silent treatment. Why can’t you guys just _get along_ , please,” he practically shouted. Kayla and Will both exchanged a concerned look, anger aside. Austin wasn’t necessarily as level-headed as Will could be, but he was good at staying emotionally-removed. Both had always expected him to blow up from that sort of emotional processing, but it was still jarring.

Will stepped forward, hands raised in a placating manner, “Austin, we’re sorry-”

“No you’re not,” the younger teen snapped, eyes already irritated and red. “You two _say_ that, and then within ten minutes you two will be ready to start throwing things at each other. How would Lee feel seeing this, huh? Kassy or Shawn? _Fuck_ , even Michael wouldn’t stand for this.”

Kayla stepped up next to Will, gaze darkening microscopically, “That’s not fair, Austin.”

“Fair?” the younger son of Apollo laughed bitterly, “You can’t be serious. You know what? It is fair for me to say _fuck you_ to both of you guys. I- they were… You guys act like you're the only ones grieving but... they were my siblings too.”

The words hung heavy in the air as Austin sniffled, rubbing his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt before storming out of the cabin. 

The two were silent, looking anywhere but each other for a good minute. Finally Will broke the silence, sighing tiredly, “Should we give him space or…?”

Kayla shrugged, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, “I… don’t know. He’s never been like that before.”

There was a pregnant pause before both the siblings tried to speak up again, accidentally interrupting the other.

Will laughed nervously, running a hand through his knotted curls, “You first. Sorry.”

The corners of Kayla’s lips quirked upward, “Um, I mean, that’s kind of what I was going to say. Sorry, I mean. I… I’m worried about you, Will, but yelling at you probably isn’t the best choice.”

Will nodded carefully, “Yeah, it’s fine. I know you mean well. I, well… I could probably do well with listening to you. I just…” Will grumbled under his breath, clearly grasping for the right words to say.

“I don’t know what else to do but work. If I’m not working, I feel like…” he let out a shaky breath. “All I can think about is _them_. Everyone who I failed, all of them just-” Will let out a soft sob, covering his mouth with his fist.

Kayla stepped forward, pulling her brother into a silent hug. She knew after years of living together that he responded very well to physical contact. Sure enough, Will seemed to melt into her embrace almost immediately, encircling his arms around her.

The two stayed like that for a solid minute before pulling apart slowly. Will rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, sighing.

“We should probably find Austin, hm?” Will mused quietly. Kayla nodded, fidgeting with one of the strings of her hoodie as the two walked out of the cabin quietly. They had a lot more to talk about, but for now, Austin was their main priority.

* * *

The two found Austin in the music room. His prized saxophone was tossed carelessly to the side as he stared off into space, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones covering his ears. His eyes were rimmed red, but he seemed to have cried himself out at this point, his breath occasionally catching on a hiccup.

Will stepped forward, gently crouching next to the other teen and carefully tapping his shoulder. Austin blinked a few times before looking up, expression immediately hardening as he saw who it was. On his other side, Kayla sat on her down criss-cross.

After realizing the two weren’t going anywhere, Austin pulled his headphones down abruptly, faint music playing from the speakers.

“Can I help you?” he asked coldly, alternating his glares between his sister and brother.

Kayla spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically soft, “We just wanted to check on you. And say that we’re sorry for upsetting you and not listening.”

Austin scowled at the ground, “You guys aren’t sorry. Can you just go away?” he mumbled, raising his headphones once more. Will gently placed a hand on his brother’s arm, taking over.

“We really are sorry, Austin. Can we just talk to you, five minutes? If you still want us to leave, we will after that.”

Austin hesitated before dropping his headphones, nonetheless keeping his glare as intense as before. When he didn’t show any signs of starting the conversation, Kayla spoke up first.

“Look… I think first I want to say sorry for… dismissing your feelings at first. I was just upset and-” she cut herself off, cursing quietly. “No, sorry. I’m not making excuses. But… your feelings are completely valid. And I know it’s been hard with us arguing all the time and…” she huffed, waving her hands vaguely as she tried to figure out how to word the rest of her apology. Will took over from there.

“I think what Kayla wants to say is that… both of us are sorry for not being there for you. We’ve both been… in our own heads after everything, I guess. But Austin, after everything that’s happened, we have to try and be there for each other. We are… I mean, we are all we kind of have left.”

A heavy silence fell amongst the siblings; it was true. At the start of the Battle of Manhattan, they had twelve cabin members. By the end of the fighting, only five Apollo campers walked away. There was technically Valerie and Ray, but the two older Apollo children had officially left Camp behind, in part for college and in part to leave behind as much of the demigod world and pain as they could. None of them blamed the two of course; they would all definitely do the same if they could. But it really meant that they all only had each other.

Sure enough, some of the anger seemed to deflate from Austin’s shoulders as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, “I’m so tired, guys…” he choked out. Will hesitantly took the chance to wrap an arm around his younger brother’s shoulder. Kayla moved next to Austin on his right, leaning on his shoulder and taking his hands in her own. The two waited patiently for Austin to keep talking.

“My mom called me this morning,” Austin mumbled under his breath. Immediately, Kayla and Will shared a look. Both of them had been blessed to have supportive and caring mortal parents, but not all demigods got that opportunity, Austin being one of them.

The younger demigod continued, shifting slightly so he could straighten his posture a little. “It started out fine. But then it got to the whole conversation of coming back for school and all the extracurriculars I’m missing out on and how I’ll never get into a good college if I don’t-” his voice cracked as he took a deep breath. “She wouldn't even hear about everything that happened. She just said I was lying about the monsters and the f-fighting and then that I was trying to guilt her and… I don’t know what she wants from me. I don’t want to keep being such a… a disappointment.”

His voice was bitter, too cold and heartbroken for someone who was just shy of age twelve. Will pulled him a little closer, rubbing his back in soothing circles.

“You’re not a disappointment, Austin. I can promise you that. You are talented and incredibly intelligent and a good kid. The life of a demigod… it comes with sacrifices that are going to impact our futures. But even if your mom doesn’t understand it, you _can_ have a future. I mean, Val and Ray are off in college right now, and they were both year-rounders for most of their lives.”

Kayla nodded, humming lightly in agreement, “Yeah, and I know Marisa from the Hermes Cabin got into Stanford. I mean, that’s a big deal, and she’s been at Camp probably as long as Will the dinosaur over there.”

Austin laughed softly at that as Will spluttered indignantly. “I’m not- hey!”

Kayla began to giggle at her own insult, the musical sound infectious as the other two boys slowly devolved into laughter. Between all their high-strung emotions and the previously pressing tension, the three children of Apollo were desperately leaning on each other for support as they kept laughing. Whenever one stopped, they would catch sight of their red-faced siblings and fall back into the pattern.

After about five minutes, Will managed to get his wits about him, calming down long enough for his siblings to do the same as well.

“That was weird,” Will commented offhandedly, rubbing his now-sore face muscles. His siblings hummed in agreement, Kayla still stifling some lingering giggles.

“A-are we good now?” she managed to ask, turning to Austin. The mood became a little more somber as Austin sobered up quickly, studying his sister and brother for a few seconds before nodding.

“You guys promise me you’ll make an attempt to not be screaming at each other every five minutes, and we’re good.”

Will beamed at his younger brother, standing up and outstretching his hand, “We’ll do our best.”

As the other two stood up, Kayla squeezed Austin into one final hug. “And for you, just know that you can talk to us if something is bothering you, ok? We might not always know the right thing to say, but we love you and want to be there for you.”

Austin suppressed a smile, arching an eyebrow at his younger sister. “Since when have _you_ been the sappy one? I thought that was Will’s job.”

Kayla began giggling again as Will immediately started sulking and protesting ( _“What is this? International Bully Will Solace Day?”_ ), nonetheless corralling his younger siblings out of the music center. The three of them still had a lot more to talk about, but for that moment, they enjoyed laughing and teasing each other for a little longer, soaking in the rare moments in their demigod lives where they could act their age.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeehaw. Uhhhh so I guess this basically fits in with my Austin HC’s. I think that his mom (Latricia, who we know is a music theory teacher at Oberlin) knows that Austin’s father is Apollo, but doesn’t fully understand the demigod thing. So she kind of sees it as he should be able to do things perfectly (he is half-god after all), especially pressuring him with music. But she doesn’t really get that there are drawbacks to being a demigod, so she doesn’t really believe that monsters are really there (she can’t see through the Mist; and yeah, she knows they are there, but she doesn’t understand how dangerous they are) and she certainly refuses to believe in the whole war thing, thinking he made it up to just stay at Camp longer. But she still let’s him stay year round, and he doesn’t contact her often.
> 
> I have more about Austin’s general personality in my head, but that was already TMI probably lol. If anyone is interested, I guess I could work more with it, but else djhfkd meh. So yeah, hope you enjoyed reading.


End file.
